


Sunlight

by shallowsusceptibility



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-30
Updated: 2019-09-28
Packaged: 2020-05-31 07:34:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19421404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shallowsusceptibility/pseuds/shallowsusceptibility
Summary: It's like sunshine she surmises. Like how the sky is blue, the grass is green, and the dead do not come back to life.She would like to emphasize the last bit. The dead do not come back to life.Yet here she is.





	1. Monday

It's like sunshine she surmises. Like how the sky is blue, the grass is green, and the dead do not come back to life.

She would like to emphasize the last bit. The dead do not come back to life.

Yet here she is.

"Oh Nami." She whispers under her breath but nonetheless, the scent of citrus clings tightly to bright healthy orange hair as her fingers softly comb through her daughter's hair soothingly is so very much real. "What happened?"

_You look so grown up, how old are you, where are we, how's Nojiko? Genzo? How am I alive?_

Are all questions she'd like to ask as well but those questions can wait in comparison to how she's being enveloped in a hug she's not sure she remembers Nami ever giving her.

Her daughter doesn't answer and the people, people she can only assume are Nami's friends, behind her daughter send her curious gazes and heartbroken looks from those who seem to know who she is.

She'll have to thank them for being there for her youngest daughter, the daughter she worries about the most.

"B-Bell-mére-san." Nami croaks out and she's all but ready to crumple right here and there but Bell-mére is not an ex-Marine captain for nothing and she holds her child steady- her child who's no longer a child but she cradles her all the same close to her chest.

"It's okay, Nami." She kisses the top of her head, her mouth still has muscle memory of adjusting. "Everything's okay now. I'm here. Tell me what happened?"

Through hiccups and blowing into tissues and Bell-mére automatically takes out her handkerchief and wipes away her daughter's tears. She now knows she's been dead for over twelve years.

Her heart nearly breaks at the thought of not being there for her daughters and guilt chews her heart up. If she had just kept lying and held her cover, she could have called for back up from her old marine contacts.

Why did she have to be so foolish and entertain such emotional wants? She could have saved the village from being enslaved and could have made sure her precious daughters wouldn't have grown up motherless. All she had to do was pretend for a moment, just a moment- that she didn't have daughters.

Ah. She feels the tight grip of pain squeeze her heart and just the thought of it and she remembers the freezing chill of wrongness at saying she does not have two wonderful daughters and the immediate sense of relief in confirming that she did in fact have children. That's why.

She still could've done it much later on though and not seek immediate gratification and risk their freedom. But what's done is done.

What matters is that she's alive again (she'll never stop being amazed by the world) through pure happenstance. A mythical devil fruit power that brings people's wishes into reality.

It sounds like something that the World Government would most likely kill to get their hands on.

Instead her dear Nami had eaten it in the off chance that people who'd misuse it wouldn't be able to get their hands on it.

Her dear Nami who didn't tell her the consequences of using her powers as the doctor of her group told her she's gotten weaker as a result of her being here.

Icy terror grips her veins and she waits until the end of the week to gently coax her daughter to let her go.

Before that though she tells Nami everything she can about her time as a marine. Everything she never could tell her because she was just a child but now that her youngest is a full grown woman, almost her own age before she died, she tells her everything she can remember.

Of the kingdom she came from, of how she was ready to die doing her duty as a marine right up until she saw Nami being carried by Nojiko. Of her own childhood, her training in the marine of the east blue, the rise in corruption and fall in integrity as violence rang amok.

She tells stories of her marine friends she should contact and promptly ignores the questioning blank look Nami herself gives - _why don't you do it yourself now, wouldn't it be better to see your old friends?_ \- didn't prod her for more.

Then once she ran out of stories, it was her turn to listen with bated breath about everything her daughter has been through without her.

Continuing her dream of making a world map, becoming a part of Arlong's pirate to buy back the village as was the deal made with the accursed Fishman. She holds her daughter in a tight embrace as she listens to the story of the tattoo on her arm. Her heart flutters at what Genzo did (that fool - she whimsically thinks, grateful to know he survived the encounter) and that neither of her daughters hated her for what she did (her heart soars to know they don't curse her for not having done the right thing- to know they preferred to be called as her daughters than having to pretend they weren't even for a moment).

Then the adventures with her nakama.

She thanks every star in the sky for blessing her daughter with so many people to trust and care for one another.

The cook of the ship swoons for her daughter so comically, she has to ask if he's serious.

The green haired swordsman, Zoro, tells her he acts like this to any woman of average appearance.

Her daughter and the cook, Sanji, bring a respective staff and leg to his face sending him tumbling back.

She laughs and grins at Sanji and gives him an appraising look with a thumbs up.

Like Zoro says, he immediately swoons for her too and literally bends over backwards for her. She just said she likes seafood. And now there's a buffet of it!

The captain, Luffy, is someone Bell-mére wants to thank in private. The way Nami talked about him, how childish and yet mature at the times that mattered, it makes her curious and from what she's observed, he's not your typical pirate captain.

He barely orders them around. Bell-mére was an ex-Marine officer and she knows a captain that's respected by their crew and one that isn't.

Or so she likes to think, the Captain's being scolded left and right by his cook and doctor. The sniper, musician, swordsman, and shipwright more often than not jokes around with each other more. The… she's not sure what Nico Robin is to the ship. The archeologist or historian was it? An ex-assassin that… it still befuddles her mind and she tries not to think too much over the only other woman on the ship's past and instead thanks her for watching out for Nami. Robin seems to be like everyone's older sister and Nami seemed to be the younger one.

It's… more like a tight knit family-like set of friends on a ship than a pirate crew. It's heartening to say the least that this is the pirate group her daughter has decided to join, the one that saved her, her village.

They partied the next day after her revival to celebrate and let loose from the blues her daughter came down with for relieving all the memories before meeting her nakama and it worked.

The musician, Brook, was wonderful although perverted Belmere thought with a wry grin. She winked at him and said he can have it after the party and he had a bloody nose. He's a skeleton, where did the blood come from?

Everyone else is shocked that she supposes, a mother would act this way and she laughs and looks at Nami curiously. Did she outgrow that?

What she saw was her daughter controlling the clouds like she's explained in the shared stories but it's one thing to hear about it and another thing entirely to see it happen.

It was shocking. Bell-mére gets a pointed glare by her daughter as the others crack up before getting caught in an embrace by her tipsy daughter who nearly trips on nothing.

Uh-oh. Didn't Nami tell her she was a strong drinker? She teases as such and instead her daughter is already fast asleep with a pleased smile on her face. Bell-mére grins and wistfully wishes out loud for a camera to capture the moment.

The long nosed sniper, Ussop, takes out a shell and grins at her with a wink. It was only until she heard the click did she realise this was one of those sky island shells Nami told her about and she grins and waves everyone to huddle and take pictures without her.

Robin waves her hand back and next to her was another Robin.

Well then! Everyone got together cheerfully clamoring and singing along and the pictures were something she'll cherish to the afterlife.

Her daughter eventually snapped out of it due to the rowdiness of the rest and it was captured in snapshot moments by Robin's body clone who took the pictures with the camera shell.

By the time the sun rose, nearly everyone's out cold sleeping on the lawn (or well the deck but there is grass growing on it so she calls it the lawn) except for herself.

Her head nods off and eventually she herself succumbs to sleep with a smile.


	2. Tuesday (1/2)

_Dying._ She coherently thought as her vision blurs as hot red flames bloom around her. The noises of buildings crumbling and people yelling blur together. _I'm dying._

Trying to turn her head that feels heavier than it should be, two small figures appear and her vision seems to sharpen at who they were. A child. A child holding a baby. 

Her hearing manages to pick up on the cries as the background noises of the battlefield (because that's where she's dying at, a battlefield) began to quiet and suddenly she feels adrenaline pumping through her veins. 

Before she's fully conscious of the consequences of her decision, she's already scooped both of them up in her arms and runs as fast and as far as her legs can carry her away from here. 

Away from this battlefield. If she can live long enough before dying, so these two will live, she'll die happier. 

Her mind is hazy as she tries to bring them somewhere safe. It leads her to her home (a village where the people know her and will help immediately without hesitation). 

She remembers telling the doctor to treat the girls first. Doesn't know how she's still alive with her injuries other than through pure will of surviving enough for the girls to survive. 

Waking up the next day feeling alive like she's never felt before was something she knows she owes to the girls. So she stays living for their sakes and tells the rest to not worry as she'll take care of them. 

There were doubts and she knows who she was before this, knows she was nothing but trouble, likely still is but she's going to be better for these girls. (Looking at their peaceful sleeping faces warms her entire chest and body up with a feeling not even her cigarettes can hold a pale comparison to.)

She knows it. 

The next several years were ones filled with hard work and heartache. 

Looking at her two daughters with tears on their faces leaves her a bittersweet feeling as she feels prepared to die again, this time, for her daughters' sakes at home. Not at a battlefield. 

Not for her duty as a marine but rather, as a mother. 

Fleetingly, her mind ruthlessly tells her she's making a mistake. She doesn't have to die, she can _live_ and fight for them.

Endlessly, her heart sings that she's doing the right decision. They're your daughters. Don't lie. Die. Die for them as a mother.

The wound from the morning of her youngest's words is still fresh and telling such a lie sours her entire body.

In the end, her decision has already been made and her face is frozen in a smile as she tells her daughters she loves them as the Fishman points a gun to her and shoots her down. 

Gasping, she wakes up in a cold sweat and notices she's in a room she's not familiar with.

Slowly, memories of the day and night before ebb back into her mind and she shakes her head like a wet dog trying to get rid of water, except there's no water. Just intangible memories that leave a bad taste in her mind. 

"Excuse me." The voice of the only other female member of this pirate crew that isn't Nami's intrudes into the room slightly muffled. "Are you alright, Bell-mére-san?" 

"I'm alright!" She hollers as cheerily as she can and opens the door to let the other woman in. "Have we arrived on port?" 

Robin raises an eyebrow at her question and merely shakes her head with a smile. "Well, Nami requested me to keep an ear out on you while you're asleep. Literally you see." 

Bell-mére looks where Robin was pointing at and pales at the literal ear attached on the wall next to the bed. "Um." 

A wave of the archaeologist's hand later and the ear disappears into flower petals. "If you need someone to talk to who isn't our doctor or your daughter, I'm happy to lend an ear or two." Two ears pop out temporarily on her shoulders before quickly dissipating into petals.

Laughing hard, she wipes away a tear or two from her eyes. "Thank you Robin." She gives the surprisingly funny woman a grin and hopes it conveys her gratitude well enough. "I'll be sure to knock on your door when I need to." 

"Well, until then, you might want to head to the kitchen before our captain catches Nami and Sanji off guard and eats your lunch." Robin leaves Bell-mére alone in Nami's room with that tid bit of information and the ex-marine looks at her watch on her wrist with a grimace. 

Half past noon?! She was supposed to have met with Chopper, the reindeer (who insists he's not a tanuki) for her check up by now! She heads straight out to the health ward of the ship and practically lurches herself from the entrance to the patient bed like she was tackling a criminal from running. 

"Nami's mom!" The doctor shrieks. "Are you okay?! Oh god, someone call a doctor! Help! Guys, Nami's mom just- ah right." 

She watches with amusement as the doctor convinces himself to calm down and mutters to himself, " _I'm_ the doctor now."

After a series of general check up diagnosis performed on her, he hums to himself satisfied: "Well, you look physically healthy still." Then, a 180 degrees shift in mood. " _What were you thinking of running like that here?!_ " 

Finally having a chance to speak, she answers: "I...didn't want to be late?" 

Chopper frowns and writes down on his notepad with a serious face Bell-mére can't help but find very adorable. "I've told you about Nami's condition right? Her blood results just came and comparing her previous check up results before acquiring the kibō kibō no mi (wish wish fruit)..." The young doctor trails off with a terse tone. She swallows a lump in her throat she didn't realise was there. "It's not looking that good. But! We _are_ trying to rendezvous with an ally of ours and he has a devil fruit hailed for miracle treatments, so hopefully he can find a way to treat you and Nami and teach me the treatment method if possible." 

"Thank you Chopper, for caring so much about this old woman's health and my daughter's." Bell-mére finds herself hugging the rather fluffy reindeer. "You're a wonderful doctor and crewmate, I'm glad you're here to help my daughter and everyone else." 

"I…" Chopper stammers before his face turns a tad bit red. "I'm not flattered, damn it! Get out of here and don't exert yourself for your sake and Nami's!" 

With a slam, the door is closed and she can see the reindeer's silhouette happily dancing. _Adorable._

"Bell-mére-san…!" A familiar but furious voice is coming from behind you and with the reflexes of a trained marine and mother, she easily dodges the grip of unrelenting concentrated doom. "Where were you?" 

"A health check up with your adorable doctor." She answers with a smile she's not sure is real right now that she can see that there are eye bags underneath Nami's eyes, an unfitting sickly pale complexion on her face, and the way she outright nearly wobbles face first to the floor if Bell-mére hadn't managed to catch her in time to pull her upright. "Which, speaking of, I think you oughta get taken a look at right now." 

"W-What, no. I'm fine…" Her daughter insists, eyes darting away from looking into Bell-mére's eyes. "Honestly. Just a bit hungover is all. Anyway, Sanji and I managed to recreate the dish we had a lot with Nojiko back then that you used to make for us." 

Considering how tense Nami appears, she nods and grabs her child's hand in hers and smile. "Alright, but promise me we'll go together for a quick visit with Chopper after?" 

Slowly, she feels her child's muscles unwind and relax underneath her hold. "...alright, just so you'll stop worrying." 

With that, both mother and daughter heads into the mess hall and right into a fight between the chef and the first mate. 

**Author's Note:**

> Work in progress, will refine in the future


End file.
